we are just four days into survivor girl ukulele band lessons, and it is amazing to see what the girls are accomplishing. last friday when i visited the protective home for girls who have been rescued from brothels, they sang me a song -- tu pyaar ka saagar, your love is like the sea. so i got a guitar hero to figure out the chords for me and was able to start teaching them to play the song with just a few chords, c, g, and a minor.
on day one, i started with three girls each in two separate classes. in each class one of the three girls spoke english. someone advised me to limit the classes to a half hour each, because the girls would be unable to be attentive for more than that.

monday's first class went for an hour and forty-five minutes, and they were tuned in every minute.

a couple of the girls came with long fingernails on their left hands, making it difficult for them to fret the chords. they love their long fingernails. but they all agreed to cut their nails. through the translator, one of the girls said, "nails can grow, but this is a chance."

on day two i combined the two classes, and now have six girls in the class.

here's a video from day two, where the girls are practicing moving from the c chord to the g chord.

[wpvideo 0wZUdu5E]

on day four, one of the girls showed up late, and didn't want to tune her ukulele because she felt she couldn't do it. she was also struggling with a stiff strum hand.

i took her aside and helped her "dekho aur suno" -- hindi for "look and listen" -- as we looked at the electronic tuner and at the same time listened to a pitch pipe and the sound of each string as we found the correct tuning.

then i tried to get her to relax her strumming hand, but she couldn't do it. so i had her take ahold of my strumming hand. when we started to play, she wanted to take over and control my hand, but after a minute she was able to relax and let her hand move along with mine. still, it didn't immediately translate into an easy strum on her own.

for the next hour and a half as the group played and practiced changing chords, she struggled with a stiff strum. then just before the end of the class, she started strumming with a nice easy stroke. she was so happy and we all clapped for her. she said, "you take my hand. now i can do it. i miss you."

and here's a video day four of the girl i mentioned earlier who said, "this is a chance."